I believe you are talking about balancing of chemical equation. When a chemical equation is not balanced it means that that is is not representing the reality correctly. An incorrect equation may or may not conform the law of conservation of mass. It makes no sense in drawing conclusion about validity of law of conservation of mass or of any other law based on an incorrect equation.
Taking specifically the chemical equation referred in the question, that is
Mg + O2 --> MgO
The equation is incorrect because it implies that 1 atom of Mg combining with 2 atoms of oxygen will produce 1 molecule of MgO, which contains 1 atom of magnesium (Mg) and 1 atom of oxygen (O). Thus the left hand side of equation has 2 atoms of oxygen while right hand side has only 1 atom of oxygen. Obviously this equation is incorrect. To make the equation correct, we will need to balance it in such a way that atoms of each of magnesium and oxygen are same on both the side. We do this by changing the equation to:
2Mg + O2 --> 2MgO
Please note that when a chemical reaction is represented in the form of a chemical equation, the equation must be balanced. An imbalanced chemical equation is as improper and incorrect as word written with wrong spelling or a sentence with incorrect grammar.Imbalanced equations should not be used of representing chemical reactions.
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